Grassland Subsidies Increase the Number of Livestock on the Tibetan Plateau: Why Does the “Payment for Ecosystem Services” Policy Have the Opposite Outcome?

The Grassland Ecological Protection Award Policy was implemented to address severe grassland degradation in China. This policy utilizes grassland subsidies as an incentive to control the number of livestock and has become the largest payment for ecosystem services program. Although many studies have analyzed the performance of this policy, it remains controversial as to whether grassland subsidies are effective at reducing the number of livestock; moreover, there is still a lack of quantitative studies on the roles of household livelihood assets and livelihood strategies in reducing the number of livestock. On the basis of the sustainable livelihood framework, this paper constructed an analytical framework to research how grassland subsidies affect the number of livestock under the effects of different livelihood capitals and local socioecological contexts. After choosing the Pumqu River Basin of the Tibetan Plateau as the research area, this study classified sample households on the basis of grassland sizes and then examined the effects of grassland subsidies on the number of livestock of different groups of rural households by considering livelihood capital. The results showed that (1) for all the sample households, grassland subsidies caused herdsmen to raise more livestock, which was contrary to the expectation of the grassland protection policy. The invalidation of grassland subsidies was mainly caused by the poor design and implementation of the policy at the local level. (2) In addition, for rural households with different grassland sizes, the subsidies could be effective in reducing the number of livestock for households with small grassland sizes while increasing the number of livestock for households with large grassland sizes. This indicates that some supporting policies and measures for households with smaller grassland sizes should be provided to stimulate the reduction in the number of livestock, and for households with large grassland areas, grassland circulation should be encouraged to promote the large-scale production of livestock husbandry. The finding of this study can help governments to formulate policies tailored towards appropriate subsidies for addressing grassland degradation.

Download Full-text

Pests, keystone species, and hungry ghosts: the Gesar epic and human-pika relations on the Tibetan Plateau

Cultural Geographies ◽

10.1177/1474474020963144 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 147447402096314

Author(s):

Emily T. Yeh ◽

Gaerrang

Keyword(s):

Tibetan Plateau ◽

Large Scale ◽

Keystone Species ◽

Chinese Government ◽

The Tibetan Plateau ◽

Grassland Degradation ◽

Plateau Pika ◽

Political Ontology ◽

The Earth ◽

Asymmetric Power

For over half a century, the Chinese government has carried out large-scale poisoning campaigns on the Tibetan Plateau in an effort to exterminate the plateau pika, which is viewed as a pest that competes with livestock and causes grassland degradation. Since the 1990s, an ecological counternarrative has emerged in which pikas are keystone species rather than pests, and indicators rather than prime causes of grassland degradation. Virtually ignored in this debate are the ways in which Tibetan pastoralists understand and relate to pikas. We investigate Tibetan analytics of what pikas are, and what draws them to specific sites, based on interviews and observations in two pastoral communities, as well as readings of the Epic of King Gesar. Performed by bards since the twelfth century, the epic is grounded in the cultural milieu of Tibetan nomadic society and continues to be an important part of everyday life. As such, it shapes Tibetan analytics, a term we use to refer to forms of reason that cannot be reduced to ‘cultural belief.’ Because large numbers of pikas, as hungry ghosts, are drawn to places where the essence or fertility of the earth has been depleted, causing irritation to territorial deities, Tibetan practices include rituals to feed hungry ghosts, appease territorial deities, and return treasures to restore the fertility of the earth. Bringing Tibetan analytics together with proposals for political ontology, the article examines the ways in which these different ontologies, or practices of worlding, cooperate and conflict in a context of asymmetric power relations and non-liberal recognition of difference. This approach takes seriously both the agency of the nonhuman as well as human difference, while rejecting notions of rigidly bounded ontologies.

Download Full-text

Large-scale backgrounds and crucial factors modulating the eastward moving speed of vortices moving off the Tibetan Plateau

Climate Dynamics ◽

10.1007/s00382-019-04724-1 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 53 (3-4) ◽

pp. 1711-1722 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Lun Li ◽

Renhe Zhang ◽

Min Wen

Keyword(s):

Tibetan Plateau ◽

Large Scale ◽

The Tibetan Plateau ◽

Moving Speed

Download Full-text

orographic Influence of the Tibetan Plateau on the Asiatic Winter Monsoon Circulation Part L Large-Scale Aspects1

Journal of the Meteorological Society of Japan Ser II ◽

10.2151/jmsj1965.59.1_40 ◽

1981 ◽

Vol 59 (1) ◽

pp. 40-65 ◽

Cited By ~ 25

Author(s):

Takio Murakami

Keyword(s):

Tibetan Plateau ◽

Large Scale ◽

Winter Monsoon ◽

Monsoon Circulation ◽

The Tibetan Plateau

Download Full-text

Dynamic and Thermodynamic Relations of Distinctive Stratus Clouds on the Lee Side of the Tibetan Plateau in the Cold Season

Journal of Climate ◽

10.1175/jcli-d-13-00009.1 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 26 (21) ◽

pp. 8378-8391 ◽

Cited By ~ 19

Author(s):

Yi Zhang ◽

Rucong Yu ◽

Jian Li ◽

Weihua Yuan ◽

Minghua Zhang

Keyword(s):

Tibetan Plateau ◽

Large Scale ◽

Eastern China ◽

Cold Season ◽

Water Vapor Transport ◽

The Tibetan Plateau ◽

Primary Role ◽

Moist Air ◽

Low Level ◽

Stratus Clouds

Abstract Given the large discrepancies that exist in climate models for shortwave cloud forcing over eastern China (EC), the dynamic (vertical motion and horizontal circulation) and thermodynamic (stability) relations of stratus clouds and the associated cloud radiative forcing in the cold season are examined. Unlike the stratus clouds over the southeastern Pacific Ocean (as a representative of marine boundary stratus), where thermodynamic forcing plays a primary role, the stratus clouds over EC are affected by both dynamic and thermodynamic factors. The Tibetan Plateau (TP)-forced low-level large-scale lifting and high stability over EC favor the accumulation of abundant saturated moist air, which contributes to the formation of stratus clouds. The TP slows down the westerly overflow through a frictional effect, resulting in midlevel divergence, and forces the low-level surrounding flows, resulting in convergence. Both midlevel divergence and low-level convergence sustain a rising motion and vertical water vapor transport over EC. The surface cold air is advected from the Siberian high by the surrounding northerly flow, causing low-level cooling. The cooling effect is enhanced by the blocking of the YunGui Plateau. The southwesterly wind carrying warm, moist air from the east Bay of Bengal is uplifted by the HengDuan Mountains via topographical forcing; the midtropospheric westerly flow further advects the warm air downstream of the TP, moistening and warming the middle troposphere on the lee side of the TP. The low-level cooling and midlevel warming together increase the stability. The favorable dynamic and thermodynamic large-scale environment allows for the formation of stratus clouds over EC during the cold season.

Download Full-text

The Role of Shallow Convection over the Tibetan Plateau

Journal of Climate ◽

10.1175/jcli-d-16-0599.1 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 30 (15) ◽

pp. 5791-5803 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Yunying Li ◽

Minghua Zhang

Keyword(s):

Tibetan Plateau ◽

Large Scale ◽

Diabatic Heating ◽

Middle Atmosphere ◽

Atmospheric Environment ◽

Monsoon Circulation ◽

The Tibetan Plateau ◽

Shallow Convection ◽

Sensitivity Experiment ◽

Stratiform Clouds

Cumulus (Cu) from shallow convection is one of the dominant cloud types over the Tibetan Plateau (TP) in the summer according to CloudSat– CALIPSO observations. Its thermodynamic effects on the atmospheric environment and impacts on the large-scale atmospheric circulation are studied in this paper using the Community Atmospheric Model, version 5.3 (CAM5.3). It is found that the model can reasonably simulate the unique distribution of diabatic heating and Cu over the TP. Shallow convection provides the dominant diabatic heating and drying to the lower and middle atmosphere over the TP. A sensitivity experiment indicates that without Cu over the TP, large-scale condensation and stratiform clouds would increase dramatically, which induces enhanced low-level wind and moisture convergence toward the TP, resulting in significantly enhanced monsoon circulation with remote impact on the areas far beyond the TP. Cu therefore acts as a safety valve to modulate the atmospheric environment that prevents the formation of superclusters of stratiform clouds and precipitation over the TP.

Download Full-text

Spatio-Temporal Variations of Water Vapor Budget over the Tibetan Plateau in Summer and Its Relationship with the Indo-Pacific Warm Pool

Atmosphere ◽

10.3390/atmos11080828 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 11 (8) ◽

pp. 828

Author(s):

Deli Meng ◽

Qing Dong ◽

Fanping Kong ◽

Zi Yin ◽

Yanyan Li ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Water Vapor ◽

Indian Ocean ◽

Tibetan Plateau ◽

River Basin ◽

Large Scale ◽

Warm Pool ◽

The Tibetan Plateau ◽

Southern Boundary ◽

Pacific Warm Pool ◽

Water Vapor Budget

The water vapor budget (WVB) over the Tibetan Plateau (TP) is closely related to the large-scale atmospheric moisture transportation of the surrounding mainland and oceans, especially for the Indo-Pacific warm pool (IPWP). However, the procession linkage between the WVBs over the TP and its inner basins and IPWP has not been sufficiently elucidated. In this study, the relationship between the summer WVB over the TP and the IPWP was quantitatively investigated using reanalysis datasets and satellite-observed sea surface temperature (SST). The results show that: (1) the mean total summer vapor budget (WVBt) over the TP in the period of 1979–2018 was 72.5 × 106 kg s−1. Additionally, for the 13 basins within the TP, the summer WVB has decreased from southeast to northwest; the Yarlung Zangbo River Basin had the highest WVB (33.7%), followed by the Upper Yangtze River Basin, Ganges River Basin and Qiangtang Plateau. (2) For the past several decades, the WVBt over the TP has experienced an increasing trend (3.81 × 106 kg s−1 decade−1), although the southern boundary budget (WVBs) contributed the most and is most closely related with the WVBt, while the eastern boundary budget (WVBe) experienced a decreasing trend (4.21 × 106 kg s−1 decade−1) which was almost equal to the interdecadal variations of the WVBt. (3) For the IPWP, we defined a new warm pool index of surface latent heat flux (WPI-slhf), and found that an increasing WPI-slhf would cause an anticyclone anomaly in the equatorial western Indian Ocean (near 70° E), resulting in the increased advent of water vapor to the TP. (4) On the interdecadal scale, the correlation coefficients of the variation of the summer WVBt over the TP with the WPI-slhf and Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) signal were 0.86 and 0.85, respectively (significant at the 0.05% level). Therefore, the warming and the increasing slhf of the IPWP would significantly contribute to the increasing WVB of the TP in recent decades.

Download Full-text

Changes in cloud amount over the Tibetan Plateau and impacts of large-scale circulation

Atmospheric Research ◽

10.1016/j.atmosres.2020.105332 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 249 ◽

pp. 105332

Author(s):

Qianrong Ma ◽

Qinglong You ◽

Yujun Ma ◽

Yu Cao ◽

Jie Zhang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Tibetan Plateau ◽

Large Scale ◽

Cloud Amount ◽

The Tibetan Plateau ◽

Large Scale Circulation

Download Full-text

Effects of Liquid Phase Cloud Microphysical Processes in Mixed Phase Cumulus Clouds over the Tibetan Plateau

10.5194/acp-2019-1063 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Xiaoqi Xu ◽

Chunsong Lu ◽

Yangang Liu ◽

Wenhua Gao ◽

Yuan Wang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Liquid Phase ◽

Tibetan Plateau ◽

Large Scale ◽

Precipitation Event ◽

The Tibetan Plateau ◽

Phase Precipitation ◽

Physical Reason ◽

Surface Precipitation ◽

Skill Scores ◽

Microphysical Processes

Abstract. Overprediction of precipitation over the Tibetan Plateau is often found in numerical simulations, which is thought to be related to coarse grid sizes or inaccurate large-scale forcing. In addition to confirming the important role of model grid sizes, this study shows that liquid-phase precipitation parameterization is another key culprit, and underlying physical mechanisms are revealed. A typical summer plateau precipitation event is simulated with the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model by introducing different parameterizations of liquid-phase microphysical processes into the commonly used Morrison scheme, including autoconversion, accretion, and entrainment-mixing mechanisms. All simulations can reproduce the general spatial distribution and temporal variation of precipitation. The precipitation in the high-resolution domain is less overpredicted than in the low-resolution domain. The accretion process plays more important roles than other liquid-phase processes in simulating precipitation. Employing the accretion parameterization considering raindrop size makes the total surface precipitation closest to the observation which is supported by the Heidke skill scores. The physical reason is that this accretion parameterization can suppress fake accretion and liquid-phase precipitation when cloud droplets are too small to initiate precipitation.

Download Full-text